January 4, 2010 11:20 am

A year ago, the Seattle Mariners were interested in free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson but didn’t have the money – and Hudson signed with the Dodgers for one year and $3.38 million.

Now 32 and coming off a year in which he batted .283 with nine home runs, 63 RBI and and an on-base percentage north of .350, Hudson is on the market again.

The Mariners have interest – along with the Tigers, Rockies and Mets.Hudson fits the Don Wakamatsu model, a player who can do a lot of things well, isn’t reliant upon power to produce runs and can play defense.

If Seattle pursued and landed Hudson, it would mean moving Jose Lopez to first base. With Russell Branyan still on the market, that would keep Lopez and his bat in the lineup and improve the defense by getting him away from second base.

Certainly, it’s an option the Mariners have discussed – along with a dozen or so others. If Seattle can’t land the traditional boppers to hit third, fourth and fifth, why not go for hitters who can help produce without the home run?

Hudson is a switch hitter with a .282 career batting average. If the Mariners add Hudson, it would continue a transition to a contact-hitting team built around pitching and defense. Given how much offense the Mariners need to make up on the rest of the American League, another would be a step forward.

Put enough runners on base, someone has to drive in runs, don’t they?

Welcome back, John: John Hickey, the fine beat writer who lost his newspaper when the Seattle P-I stopped publishing last March, starts work this week at AOL’s Fanhouse. Hickey’s voice has been missed in the Northwest, and in the months to come we’ll likely be linking to his work.

When Coco Crispsigned with Oakland last week, his first comments on the Athletics lineup sounded as if he were talking about Seattle’s. “When you’ve got speed guys at first base and second base, it changes the whole dynamic of the game,” Crisp said. “You get into the pitcher’s head, the catcher’s head, the manager’s, they have to change defensive schemes, move outfielders in. With our legs, we can definitely put pressure on opponents.

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About

Bob Dutton joins The News Tribune after more than 25 years at the Kansas City Star, including the last 13 covering baseball and the Royals. He was the president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America in 2008 and serves on the committee that nominates players to the Hall of Fame.

Feeds

The ONLY way the Mariners should be interested in Hudson is if they can move Lopez via trade. First base is the most important position offensively today, and putting Jose Lopez there gives the M’s the worst offensive 1B in baseball (OK, like 25th, based on OPS, but still). Every playoff team except the Twins and Dodgers had a 1B in the top 20 in OPS, and those two had Mauer or Manny to make up for it.

If the Mariners really want to be a playoff team this year, it can’t be with Jose Lopez playing first base. The Mariners have to find one big bat to anchor this lineup, and most realistically that needs to be a 1B. If Branyan is healthy, great, but otherwise GMZ still has his work cut out for him.

“If Seattle can’t land the traditional boppers to hit third, fourth and fifth…”

They have a guy to hit third now, so they just need the fourth and fifth. A happy and healthy Bradley is the best three-hole hitter we’ve had years. He’s an absolutely perfect fit in that spot. High on-base, switch-hitter with power. Zdurencik and Wakamatsu have already hinted that’s the case.

Ichiro
Figgins
Bradley
?
?

The top three of the line-up is going to be scary for pitchers. One or two sluggers at four and five would make the line-up one of the most dangerous in the league.

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